There's No Place Like Home
by ninetailsfox2002
Summary: Skye's never really had a family to celebrate with, or a home for that matter. So when she finally gets both, she's determined to make this Christmas the best she's ever had. There's nothing that's going to stand in her way this year, and if she has to sneak onto the Bus and steal a few things then so be it. Now she just needs to figure out how to cook. (Mentions of rape)
1. Chapter 1

**There's No Place Like Home**

 **I decided to write a little Agent's of Shield one shot that might become a two shot about Christmas. This takes place before Ward's betrayal and before Miles with all the original team members. I hope you all enjoy. This is all from Skye's perspective. I might write a series of one shot after this that connects to this one.**

 **I DO NOT OWN AGENTS OF SHIELD**

I couldn't believe that it was finally Christmas, well, five days before Christmas… and not only was it the greatest holiday, like _ever,_ but it was the first holiday that I was finally going to be able to spend with my 'family'!

I had planned everything out perfectly. There would be lights, and food, and gifts, and the biggest tree that could possibly fit on a plane. Everything was going perfectly until Coulson decided to make a big announcement.

"Since it's been such a tiring year, for all of us, I thought that it would be appropriate for each of you to get a little time off for the holiday. Each of you will be allowed to leave tomorrow to spend time with your family and friends."

I knew it would have been selfish of me to ask everyone to stay, they all seemed so happy about this, but I couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken. Just because I didn't have anyone to celebrate with didn't mean that I had to ruin everyone's holiday to. They were all so happy that I didn't even want to bring up the fact that I had nowhere to go.

I had almost completely lost hope when Coulson decided to finish his announcement.

"Though you do get off for the 25th, you all need to be back by the 29th so that we can get back to work before the New Year." Before everyone could voice their complaints, he quickly added that the job requirements had been stated when they had gotten them, and that they had all signed up for this.

As soon as he called the meeting to an end I walked off with everyone else when the voices of Simmons stopped me.

"Skye, don't you just love this time of the year. The snow, the lights, the food, and all time we get to spend with our fam-." Right before she could finish her sentence, her mouth snapped shut and all the members of the team turned to look at me, waiting to see how I would react.

My mouth pursed shut as I felt everyone's eyes on me and I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed at all the attention. Before she could apologize, I slid on a well practiced mask and smiled the best that I could.

"Yeah, it's nice to see all of the decorations and the food is amazing, I mean do you know how many types of cookies I had last year, like three billion. And don't even get me started on all the festive music. It's actually one of my favorite holidays." I said still smiling.

In reality, all of my holiday's had either been spent alone or at a bar. A few years ago, it the temperature was below zero degrees so I had found a drunk and let him fuck me in the back of his truck just so that I could have somewhere to stay the night. After that I had gotten my driver's license and my van so that I would never have to experience that again.

I had lied about a lot of things over my time on the bus, my age, my multiple problems, and now I could add one more thing to the list.

As everyone went their separate ways, most likely to pack their stuff in their bunks, I left to mine as well, the beginnings of a plan forming in my head.

As everyone said goodbye, I went over where everyone was going in my head. Coulson was going to visit Fury and then spend the rest of the time with some of his friend in Shield. May was going home to visit her mother and father and was planning on spending her holiday with them. Fitz and Simmons were each going to spend Christmas with their respective families, and were then going to fly back the 26th to spend time with each other. Ward was flying over to spend time with his grandmother and was planning on staying with her for their time off.

I on the other hand was going to put my plan into motion while everyone went away and was going to stay here.

As soon as everyone had left, and I with them, I turned my taxi around and had the driver take me back to the Shield base where the bus was. I told the agents there that I had forgotten something on board and was allowed to get back on. Apparently they changed shifts after that because no one noticed when I didn't get off again.

I hadn't actually brought clothes with me in my suitcase and had in fact used it to carry all of the supplies for my plan back onto the bus. All of the food that I was going to use for an awesome-few-days after -Christmas-dinner, the decorations, the ornaments, etc…

This was going to be so much fun.

My plan consisted of 5 parts (some more important than others).

Get the lights, tinsel, fake snow, Lego cities, paper snowflakes, _mistletoe,_ and MANY other decorations up.

Get the tree _inside_ the bus and get it decorated.

Buy everyone a Christmas gift with the little money that I actually had saved up

Learn how to cook and actually get everything cooked without burning down the bus.

Make a badass Christmas playlist for when everyone gets here.

After detangling _hundreds_ of lights, cutting out beautifully intricate paper snowflakes, the red on some of them was certainly not because she had cut her fingers open using safety scissors, many curses while making a Lego replica of New York City and setting it up in the meeting room, burning my hand profusely with the hot glue gun while making a Merry Few-Days-After-Christmas banner and falling off a ladder, _more than a few times,_ trying to get it, along with the tinsel up, and putting the mistletoe in intricately placed spots, the Bus was finally decorated to my standards so I moved onto the task of getting a _tree_ on the bus.

While I may not have been proud of waiting till a new agent was placed on the night shift by himself and having sex with him (I didn't want to, but he would have told someone if I hadn't) so that he would stay quite about me being on the bus while letting me sneak out to grab the tree, it got the job done. And _believe me_ ; getting the tree onto the bus was no picnic. I think I'm going to be picking pine needles out of my hair for days. Once the tree was inside, I hooked on all the ornaments and the lights and in the end, might I say, the tree looked pretty fan-freaking-tastic.

Admiring my handiwork, I got onto the next step, but before I could start, a wave of nausea hit me and my vision blacked out for a few seconds. For the past four days while I had been trying to get everything done, I had on practically coffee alone trying to get everything done and I could bet that I looked pretty awful (who needed showers anyways.) Deciding that I earned a break, I took a three hour power nap before getting back to work.

I remembered that I was going to have to go outside and decided to take a quick shower. Once I got into the water, I realized how bad that I actually felt. I had burned the skin off my fingers trying to use the hot glue gun, cut my hand so badly that I needed to give myself stitches, bruised a rib when I fell off of the ladder, I was sleep deprived, hungry, and was now sporting a rather large bruise on my shoulder from when I had had to carry in the Christmas tree. Groaning to myself, I briefly wondered what the rest of the team was up to and deeply hoped that they appreciated how much I had worked to show them that I loved them.

After I had finished the shower, I repeated what I had done to get the Christmas tree, with the same guard, and made it to the mall after getting a ride from a taxi. I only had about two hours before the mall closed, so I ran inside and picked up what I had needed to get Coulson from a small pawn shop, got to the electronics store and picked up Ward's gift, and stopped to get Simmons' gift on my way out. Fitz's and May's gifts had been a bit more difficult but I had finally figured out what to get them. Realizing I had run out of money, I had a driver take me into the city.

Once I was in a crowded enough place, I let years of practice take over. Finding some rather wealthy looking people, I swiped their wallets and went back to my cab. With a resigned sigh, I pulled out the money, tossed the wallets, and left.

I stopped at a local weapons shop where had I placed a custom order for May's gift and after picking it up, I went home to finish Fitz's. Once done, I started the last part of my little project.

Now, I had never really cooked anything besides ramen and spaghetti before, but I figured how hard it could be. Besides, I still had three days left for everything to get done. I Googled how to make a turkey and found that it was a _lot_ harder than what I had made it out to be, and a lot _grosser._ After letting it thaw out for the next two days,I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I stuffed the unfortunate bird. Once I had finished that, I moved onto the mashed potatoes and found that at least it was easier than the turkey, _thank god,_ and then did the greens, ham, rice, and finally the Yule log. Once I was finished, I stopped to admire my meal. Though the turkey and ham were still cooking, the rest of the meal was looking spectacular. The asparagus and the green beans were cooked to perfection, the mashed potatoes were thick but not sticky, the rice wasn't too soft and it wasn't raw, and the Yule log was beautifully decorated.

Could I do Christmas or what?

A few hours later, I took out the turkey and the ham and without thinking, I forgot to put on my gloves, too excited on how everything would turn out. When I placed my hands firmly on the pan, so as not to drop it, I burned the palms of my hands, _badly_.

Fighting back tears as I watched my hands redden, I ran into the bathroom and turned on the water as cold as it would go. Once I placed my hands under the faucet, I kept them there and felt the burn slowly stop hurting. After fifteen minutes, the pain was bearable enough that I no longer had to keep them under the water and I loosely wrapped my palms.

Suddenly, flashbacks spun through my head.

The taunts from the other kids at the orphanage- _Stop being such a crybaby Mary,_

The threats from past foster parent - _If you so much as shed one tear, then we'll add an extra set of ten, is that what you want Mary,_

How I would plead with the big men on the streets after I had left the system at 14- _We didn't tell you to talk bitch, now stop crying before someone hears you, you slut._

Blocking out the memories, I quickly reminded myself that I had a job to do as I headed back into the kitchen.

When I got there, I placed the last two pieces of food on two beautiful white plates trimmed in gold that I had bought while at the mall. Both looked absolutely amazing. After I had placed everything in the fridge for safe keeping, I crawled into my bed and fell asleep, but my dreams were plagued with nightmares.

The next day, I woke up and put together the Christmas playlist. After that, I spent the rest of the day making sure that everything was perfect.

The entire time, I kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

 _What if they hate it?_

 _What if they think that I'm trying to hard?_

 _What if the food taste's absolutely awful?_

 _What if AC gets mad that I decorated the bus without asking and kicks me off the team?_

 _What if the bus gets taken over by angry Christmas hating ghosts and they kill everyone on the team because I decorated the Bus?_

Okay, maybe not that last one, but still, do you know how many things could go wrong?

I just had to hope for the best and hope that the rest of the team appreciated what I did for them.

I guess I'd find out tomorrow.

Fitzsimmons had come into the base together and were waiting for everyone to show up. They were having a casual conversation on the logistics of time travel when Coulson and May walked in, shortly followed by Ward.

"I hope that everyone enjoyed their time off" Coulson said to the team. "Now is everyone here"

After a small glance around the room, Ward exclaimed "Where's Skye."

The sixth member of their team was still not here?

"What was Skye doing for the holidays anyway" Simmons asked.

Suddenly, a wave of shamefulness had passed over the team at the fact that no one had thought to ask her.

Coulson cleared his throat "Why don't we all go on the bus and wait there for her, that way everyone can unpack and get settled."

Making their way onto the bus, music suddenly started playing. Once they were right next to the plane, AC/DC's Back in Black could be clearly heard.

Confused, May placed in the code on the cargo doors, everyone was prepared for whatever would come out at them. What they weren't expecting was to see big plastic light-up candy canes lining the ramp onto the bus and to hear some muttered cursing from their previously missing hacker.

"Stupid old laptop, I said Christmas playlist, not Back in Black, how do you even get those two mixed up you mother-"more profane curses "system. CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST" I yelled. "Playing Somebody to Love by Queen" said the robotic voice of her laptop over the Bus intercom. "ARGHHH" came Skye's strangled scream from what the team presumed to be the bar, followed by more angry mutterings and loud footsteps.

Suddenly, the song Jingle Bell Rock blasted through the bus and the previously frozen team made their way up the ramp.

When they stepped onto the plane, they all gasped at what lay before them. Inside the cargo hold was a large brightly decorated banner with Merry Few-Days-After-Christmas written on it with huge blocky letters. Strings of lights were everywhere and fake snow lined the edge of the floor. Cut out snowflakes were hanging from the ceiling and five packages were lying on the floor.

On top of each of the little wrapped boxes was a little post-it note. Written on it was 'just something to get the party started-Skye' Upon opening them, they realized that inside were Santa hats, red light up noses, and the ugliest sweaters that they had ever seen.

After putting on the items they all went up the stairs into the common area and their eye's nearly popped out of their sockets. It was beautiful.

In the middle of the room was a beautiful Christmas tree with five gifts underneath. Everywhere was chains of paper snowflakes, everything was covered in fake snow, and tinsel was hanging from the ceiling. When they looked through the glass doors of the meeting room, they all gasped at the extremely intricate replica of New York City on top of the holo-table, and entering the room was Skye with her own ugly sweater, hat, sunglasses, and nose on. She was holding a tray of sugar cookies in one bandaged hand and a pitcher of eggnog in the other.

"Merry Christmas" I said shyly.

"Oh Skye," Coulson said, "did you do all of this for us?"

With everyone near tears, I immediately thought that something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, I knew you would hate it, it's just that I didn't really have anywhere to go and I thought that maybe this would be a nice thing to do together but if you hate it that much than I'll take it down, I'm so sorry, it was stupid of me to do this, I-"

"Skye, stop" Said May, "It's amazing and we were all just surprised at the amount of work that you put into this."

"We love it" Ward finished with a soft smile.

"Oh this is absolutely marvelous Skye, but-" said Simmons

"how did you get the Christmas-" switch to Fitz

"tree in here without-" back to Simmons

"anyone noticing" Fitz finished.

"That my dear friends, is a secret" I said with a wink.

I set the food on the table and went in to talk to everyone. Time passed quickly as I got swept up in conversation with the others about what they had done.

"If you had told us that you didn't have anywhere to go than I would have gladly had you stay in my house" Said Simmons.

"I could have put up with you for a few more days, Rookie" Ward said playfully

"You wouldn't have been that much of a bother" May said passively

"You guys, I'm fine, and this was a lot of fun. Besides, I didn't want to bother you and your families."

After arguing with them that I was fine, I set the table for dinner and we all ate together. Throughout the meal I got constant praise on my cooking skills and no one believed me when I said that I hadn't known how to cook until pretty recently. I had always picked things up fast.

When we were all finished, we each helped to clean up and then we went to open gifts.

"This one's for Ward. I know how much you love reading so I got you a Nook. May you be able to bore yourself to sleep, wherever you go."

"Wow Skye, I was almost touched for a few seconds. Thank you" Ward said smiling.

"This one's for May, so that you can continue kicking ass, wherever you go." I said, handing her a wooden box.

"Oh Skye, they're beautiful" said May, holding up one of the handcrafted throwing knives. "But a full set must have cost hundreds,"

"Don't worry about that May, I have my ways" I said with a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes.

"This one's for Coulson" I said handing him a small package.

Immediately, his eyes lit up and he smiled softly while pulling out a full set of vintage captain America trading cards. I had been collecting them for him for weeks.

"Thank you Skye, this means a lot to me."

Finally, I pulled out the last gift and handed it to Simmons. "And this one's for you Jem, I overheard you a few weeks ago talking about how you only had one left to complete your set but that you couldn't find it anywhere. Here it is."

"Oh Skye, this is lovely. Thank you so much" she said holding up the tiny porcelain model of the Fifth Doctor."

"Fitz, you're gift is not here, because I don't like you." I said, my face straight. "Oh…" he let out a soft sigh. I didn't talk for a few seconds and once everyone had realized what I had said, I laughed and added that I was just kidding. "For you, dear Fitz, I have made you a most marvelous gift. If you would just follow me into the heart of New York than you shall be able to receive thy gift" I said with a fake booming voice. "Onward Jeeves" I yelled as everyone followed.

Once there, I picked up the remote and turned on the holo-table.

"Now it I may, could you please direct your attention to the model of the empire state building"

On top of the building was a monkey swatting at holographic planes.

"I know that you can't have a real monkey on the bus, so I created an AI, his name is EDWARD. It stands for Even Doing Whatever Agents Really Do. Edward can help on missions by providing information, is connected to the internet, and is just an awesome little dude all around. I modeled him after a Capuchin Monkey."

"Can he talk," Fitz nearly squealed.

"Edward, can you say something for us," right as it was about to open it's mouth, Skye quickly finished. "in English."

"One of his bugs is that you have to say the language you want him to talk in, but I could probably fix that later." I said to everyone.

"I am EDWARD, here to help you with whatever you need. Do you wish for some assistance." It said. The voice was high and childlike, with an English accent, but it fit the design.

"No… that's quite alright" Fitz said grinning.

"Alrighty then, powering down" It said as it disappeared.

"Skye, that's absolutely brilliant, I cannot begin to thank you enough. Do you know how helpful this little guy's going to be?" Fitz exclaimed.

"I'm glad that you like it Fitz" I said smiling.

"Well, that's enough excitement for me for one night. I think I'm going to head off to bed guys, Merry Few-days-After-Christmas. Night" I said as I went to my bunk, smiling for the first time in days, and fell asleep.

 **I hope you guy's liked that, and if you did, then review, PLEASE. I might make this into a two shot about the team staying up after Skye falls asleep and discussing how they feel about what Skye did and how they noticed her injuries, maybe. Happy New Year everyone.**

 **XOXOXO The fox has left the building**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, there were a few people who wanted a second chapter for this story, so that's what I'm doing. I hope this Chapter is just as good as the first one. I would like to say thanks to Guest, Skyedaisy, and SLYNNR for their reviews, and for all those people who hit that favorite/follow button, now onto the story.**

 **Chapter 2**

(From the rest of the team's POV)

After Skye had left for her bunk, the rest of the team immediately quieted down. Even if Skye hadn't thought that they had, they had noticed everything. How she winced when Jemma gave her a hug earlier, that fact that her hands had been wrapped in bandages, and that she wouldn't take her shades off the entire time they had been together.

"I can't believe that she did all of this for us. I feel absolutely awful now. I mean, she went through all of this trouble for and we didn't even think to ask her where she would be staying all this time." Jemma said after everyone had sat down in the meeting room, still awed by the detail work of the model New York.

"What I want to know is how she got everything on here without anyone noticing." Fitz whispered to Jemma.

"I just wish there was a way that we could see everything that had happened while we were away" said Ward.

"Well, maybe there is Agent Ward, in every room of the Bus there are cameras installed. I can access them whenever I want."

"Well then why aren't you," May said to Coulson.

"I will, but I need you guys to know that this could be a huge invasion of Skye's privacy, I mean who knows what went on while we were away. So if we're going to do this then I'll need everyone's full support, whoever disagrees can leave."

When everyone stayed seated, Coulson smiled and whispered the command codes to bring up the footage.

Suddenly, everyone's eyes were blinded for a few seconds when the holo-table let out a bright blue light. When they could finally see again, they were astounded to see everything around them colored in blue. They were still on the bus, but something was different. It was as if they had gone back in time to after everyone had said their goodbyes. Everything was covered in a hologram.

They heard a loud bang and gasped when they saw a perfect replica of Skye pulling a suitcase up the stairs and into the common room, except both Skye and her suitcase were made of pixilated blue light.

They all watched as she struggled to get her bulging suitcase in the room and wondered what could possibly be in there that would cause her to have so much trouble. Their questions were answered when she unzipped the luggage and piles upon piles of Christmas decorations came spilling out.

 _Skye let out a satisfied sigh as she straightened out her back, listening to it pop and crack._

" _Okay, let's see; I've got" she paused for a second, to do the math in her head, "nine days counting today. Step one of Skye's-Super-Awesome-Throw-An-Amazing-Christmas-Party-Plan is now underway."_

Everyone chuckled at her ridiculously long name and went back to watching her unpack. When she was finished, they were all surprised at the amount of stuff she had been able to lug onto the Bus.

" _Let's see, First, I should probably start by putting up all the lights and other junk" she said to herself after completely emptying out her bag._

 _She went down to the supply closet and a few minutes later came up with a small ladder._

 _Everyone watched as she hung the star lights around the rooms while whistling 'Jingle Bells' to herself the entire time. When she had reached the hanger area she stepped onto the ladder and started to put up the last set of lights._

"Fitz, didn't you need to fix the ladder after spilling small quantities of Permanganate ion and Thermite while trying to see if you could liquefy and condense metals for easier transportation."

Jemma's words made everyone's eyes widen and they focused more intently on the scene playing out before them while Fitz frantically mumbled to himself different scenarios where the ladder wouldn't break.

 _Skye was trying to string the lights onto the last side of the wall when the ladder started to make a strange noise. "Almost there" she whispered to herself, when suddenly two of the four legs on it broke off. Though she managed to string the last of the lights onto the wall, she couldn't stop herself from hitting the floor and ohmygodthatreallyfuckinghurt._

 _Skye let out a strangled scream that was echoed by each of the members of the team._

Fitz brought his hand to his mouth as he mumbled apologies into his hand, Jemma moving closer and wrapping an arm around the guilt stricken engineer.

 _Thankfully the leg and only grazed her side, and she rolled onto her back, wincing._

" _Mother Elf-er" (see what I did) she hissed. Skye slowly rose to her feet, grunts of pain accompanying each sharp movement as she limped into the bathroom. Pulling up her shirt she winced as she touched the rather large bruise starting to form on her left side._

Fitz, Ward, and Coulson blushed at the sight of the topless girl and were about to shift their eyes when they caught sight of thin lines crossing the entirety of her back.

Jemma brought her hand up to her mouth and started tearing. Ward looked like he was about to be sick along with Fitz, while May's eyes softened slightly at the sight. Coulson's expression became stony and his eyes darkened.

 _As Skye stared at the mirror, her eyes flashed with something that no one could name. She slid into the corner and took several deep breaths, curling into a ball on the floor. After a few minutes of silence, occasionally being broken by her pained whimpers, Skye stood up and went back outside._

" _There not here, there not here, there not here, therenothere…" She mumbled to herself while cutting out some paper snowflakes, occasionally cutting herself, but never stopping. Once that was finished, she moved onto creating the tower. Thankfully, the worst thing that had happened during that had been when she stepped on a Lego._

 _After finishing all of that she started to work on the banner. She picked up the hot glue gun and began to glue down the streamers and letters, constantly burning herself with the glue. "I swear to Go- ouch! You Holy Shi- oww! Last time I do any sort of craft," she mumbled._

Everyone laughed at her, glad that Skye was returning back to normal.

 _A few hours later, she was finally finished. Skye walked outside, where she cam face to face with the security guard on detail. "Hey," she whispered to him, "Psst… Over here" once she had gotten the attention of the guard, he walked over to her and took a glance at her until finally locking eyes with her._

" _Agent, I ask that you explain your reason for being on this property," He said in what her probably thought was a commanding tone._

" _I'm part of the team that's staying here, and I was hoping that you wouldn't tell anyone that I was here, I want to surprise my team when they get back, so I'm going to have to step out for a bit." She answered sheepishly._

 _At this, the man visibly relaxed. "So, no one knows you're here then."_

" _Yeah, I snuck back around when everyone was leaving, so it's just me here."_

" _You know, a pretty girl like yourself ought to be more careful when she's all alone, who know what could happen to her." He smirked. "So you really don't want anyone to know you're here then."_

At this, May growled, her eyes narrowing.

" _Yeah…" Skye said as everything finally began to click. "Ya know, I'm just gonna go then" she said, trying to leave, but she was stopped when his hand wrapped around her wrist. "We still haven't discussed what you're going to do for me, seeing as I'm keeping your little secret. How about you do a little something for me?"_

Now everyone had been getting pretty tense at what was happening, each starting to realize the weight of the situation.

 _And with that he pressed his lips to hers and held her wrists above her head, pressing her body into the side of the plane. "Mmhm" Skye screamed, but it was muffled against the stronger man's lips._

"I'LL KILL HIM" Ward screamed into the room, getting ready to leave and find the agent responsible.

"Hold on, we all want this man to pay, but right now we need to finish this." Coulson said to him. "Just wait"

At this Ward seemed to be satisfied and sat back down, shooting a scorching glare at the holograms.

 _Skye panicked as he reached down and pulled off her top, as momentarily the pressure against her lips eased away. She seemed to be close to a panic attack now, her entire body trembling as she continuously said to herself, "not again, not again…"_

_Finding no way out, she closed her eyes and wished, wished that ward was there with his big strong arms to protect her, wished that May would appear and ninja flip him over her back, wished that Coulson was there with his strong reassurances as he pulled the man away, She wished for Jemma with her comforting words and Fitz with his corny jokes._

 _The words "not again, not again" echoing throughout the room._

 _When the agent had finished, Skye quickly got up and dressed herself, her face eerily blank and eyes dark._

*LINE BREAK LINE BREAK LINE BREAK LINE BREAK*

"What happened to the feed" Fitz said as the holograms disappeared.

"Oh Skye," by now Jemma was sobbing into her hands, "You didn't have to do all of this just for us"

"But I did" came a reply from behind. The team turned to see skye looking at them in the doorway, near tears. "I _really_ did."

 **And that's it for now everyone. I hope you licked the chapter, and I decided that I am going to turn this into a full story. Tell me what you think, and please Review.**

 **XOXO that fox has left the building**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everybody, sorry for the delay. I'm here with the next chapter. Thanks for the support everybody, it really means alot. As for the comment that it was rape and not sex, that was skye's POV and the reason I called it sex and not rape will be explained in this chapter**

 **Shout out to beth, bhut, Codi, Guest, and again, SLYNNR.**

 **Hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

(Switching back to Skye's POV)

I walked into the room, shame burning in every fiber of my being as I saw what they were watching. I blinked back tears, my shades gone, and looked at everyone when I heard Jemma speaking.

"Oh Skye," by now Jemma was sobbing into her hands, "You didn't have to do all of this just for us"

"But I did" I said from behind. They all looked towards me as I wiped my eyes. "I really did."

By now, all of their attention was on me as I moved further into the room, my face flushed with embarrassment. "You guys… all of you, you put up with me the entire year. I just wanted to show you all how much you mean to me. I realise that I'm not the easiest person to be around, but this was going to be the first christmas that I had ever spent with people that actually tolerated my existence," I looked to the ground wringing my hands nervously, not really sure how they would react to this part. "This is the first christmas that I had ever spent with… friends" I finished with a tentative smile.

"Okay. _First of all,_ Skye, we don't 'put up with you' or 'tolerate your existence," May started. At this, my heart started to crack. The pieces that I had ever so slowly pieced together time and time again started to break apart, and I knew that this time there would be no fixing it. My smile slowly dropping. I couldn't handle another rejection, not from the people who I thought of as my family. I clenched my jaw to smother the scream that I knew was coming as a flood of memories washed over me.

" _Look at you Mary Sue, another family sent you back. I don't think that I have ever dealt with a child_ that _unwanted,"_ came the harsh words of the nuns at the orphanage.

The other kids in the orphanage who would make sure that I knew I would never leave. " _Look who's back again. When are you gonna learn that_ nobody _loves you Mary, and nobody. ever. Will."_

I would never heal if they left me too, but if they did, I'd just grin and bear it, like I always did. I braced myself for the words that would come from May next.

"How could you think that you mean _that little_ to us." May's eyes softened as she glanced my way. "We care about you Skye, we really do."

My gaze left the floor and my head snapped to attention as I looked towards her. "You… you do?" my voice cracked as I spoke.

"Oh Skye." Jemma threw her arms around me and I flinched at the sudden contact. It took me a few seconds to realise that this was a hug. She was _hugging_ me. I couldn't even remember the last time someone had hugged me. I slowly put my arms around her and hugged her back, savoring the moment.

' _You're dirty Skye. She shouldn't be touching you, you'll make her dirty too. Everyone you touch you hurt, you're toxic.'_

I winced at my thoughts but I couldn't help but think about how true they were.

I slowly pulled away from the hug and asked the only question that I could think of.

"But… _why?_ You watched the video, how can you even be near me?" I asked, my thoughts flickering to the agent, the his hands on my body, his breath on my skin, the marks that he left on my hips.

"What do you mean Skye?" Coulson asked, stepping forward.

"You know what I mean. I just had _sex_ with a random guard. How you could even be _around_ a whore like me is-"

"STOP. Don't ever say _anything_ like that again. Is that what you think Skye, that you're some kind of whore? Well it's not true. What that man did, that wasn't sex, that was rape. Skye, he raped you." Ward sputtered.

I looked to him and to everyone else's horrified faces utterly confused. Why weren't they disgusted, did they think that it was just that one guard?

"That wasn't rape." I denied, "I didn't fight him, I didn't say no. I've been raped before, and that was not it."

"Oh my god, I'm gonna be sick," Fitz whispered as he turned and hurled into the nearest trash can. Coulson looked as though he had been physically struck, May looked just as shocked, and Jemma held her hand over her mouth tears streaming from her eyes. I looked at Ward as he cleared his throat and started again.

"Skye, did you _want_ to do what you did with him." he asked.

"Well no but-"

"Did he ask you beforehand if it was okay," he said cutting me off.

"I mean no but-"

"There is no but Skye. You don't have to say no to sex to make it rape. What he did… Skye, what he did was not okay." He finished.

' _I still didn't fight though, look at me, the big bad shield agent who can't even handle being by herself for more than a week. They would all just be better off without me.'_ I thought to myself.

"Well this conversation is getting a bit too depressing for me, who wants to go watch a christmas movie." I asked, not even trying to hide the fact that I wanted to change the topic of the conversation. "I think they're playing Elf right now."

May and Coulson shared a quick glance and decided that their young hacker had had enough questioning for now, and so they decided that they would go along with her for now, but that this was not the end of the conversation.

"Yeah," Coulson answered, "That sound like a plan." he said as they all followed me to the screening room.

 _Later that night..._

As everyone fought over the next movie to watch, I fought the urge to fall asleep, knowing what would follow. With all of the rehashing of old memories that had happened over the week, I knew that any sleep I got would be plagued with nightmares, but with all of the stress and the sleep deprivation that I had faced over the week, I found it hard to keep my eyes open, and pretty soon, I had drifted off.

 _(Everyone's POV)_

They all watched as Skye fell asleep, thankful for the fact that she was getting any sleep at all

"What do we do? Should we move her?" Jemma bit her lip nervously.

"Leave her here for now, who knows the last time that she got a full night's rest. There's no need to run the risk of accidentally waking her up. Besides, I'm too tired to go back to my bed, aren't all of you." Coulson asked, already knowing the answer.

They all shared a knowing glance as the took in the sight of their resident hacker, "No sir," Jemma answered for them all as they got comfortable in their seats.

They had all started to drift off when they heard mumbles and pain filled grunts. May, Coulson, and Ward each quickly got to attention, the Agent inside of them fully awake, while Fitz and Simmons tried to work out the cause of the noise.

Seeing no visible threat, they all relaxed slightly, until they realised where the sound had come from in the first place.

"Stop... stop touching me... _stop it_ … it hurts… please… _please stop,"_ Skye cried to herself. Sometime while she had been moaning she had rolled onto her right side and had wrapped her arms around her middle, as if to protect her stomach and sides. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her eyes scrunched together as if she were in pain.

May reached forward for the girl and gently shook her arm, trying to wake her up. Suddenly Skye lurched forward, swung her legs over the side of the couch she had been on, and opened her mouth as if to scream, but bit down tightly before she could make any noise with a practised ease. Coulson's eyes watered at the knowledge that she had done this kind of thing before, probably multiple times without any of them knowing.

Skye started to regain a sense of where she was as she took in the worried forms of her teammates. She took a deep breath and dropped her gaze to the floor, embarrassment once again taking hold of her body.

 _Great job Skye, can't even make it through the night without someone being worried about you, did someone ask for the_ _ **definition**_ _of useless._

(Back to Skye's POV)

I shuddered at the nightmare, well more at the memory, that I had just re-lived. All I could think about were his arms on my hips, and his lips on my neck, and the bite marks that he had left that I had had to cover up for school the next day.

I closed my eyes and tried to shove the memories to the back of my mind, fully content with just ignoring what had happened and ready to plaster a smile on my face and pretend to be okay.

"Don't do that," May pleaded, placing a comforting hand on my back and I shuddered at the sudden contact. "Don't shut us out and pretend that you're fine. We're all here for you Skye, talk to us, please."

I contemplated the idea for a bit in my head,

' _They could help, and it might be nice to talk to someone for once'_ one side of me argued. But the other part of me-the stronger part-won.

' _Please, do you think that they need any other reason to kick you off the team, I mean you can't even decorate without hurting yourself. You can't sleep, you're a thief, you're a whore, and you're just an all around burden. Why not tell them all of your deep dark secrets, let them_ _ **really**_ _see how messed up you are'_

"It's… it's been a long night. I think that I'm just gonna head to bed and get some sleep. Maybe another time." I said getting up to leave. "Thank you though, for the offer," I said, almost as an afterthought, before heading up to my bunk. Missing the look of disappointment that flashed across her face.

As I sat down on my bed, I thought of everything that had happened that day, and I cried. Silent sobs wracked my body, until I fell into a fitful sleep.

 **I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter. Please review if you have an comments or ideas or suggestions. They are all very much appreciated. I AM BY NO WAY TRYING TO DOWNPLAY WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN SKYE AND THE AGENT. THAT WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE RAPE. Skye just needs to work through some stuff before she knows that too. She will open up to the team, it will just take a bit of time, and Skye's real age will be revealed. There might also be a run in with an old foster family,** _ **maybe,**_ **I'm still toying with that idea. Thank you again to all of my marvelous reviewers, and to all of you guys that hit that favorite/follow button.**

 **XOXO The fox is leaving the building**


End file.
